| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
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7. Pronunciation Challenges: Confusions and Controversy
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| § 4. -ade |
This noun suffix can be traced back to Latin through French, and then Provençal, Spanish, Portuguese, or Italian, which undoubtedly accounts for the variety of ways in which it can be pronounced. Most English words ending with -ade were adopted from French with no change in spelling: accolade, balustrade, charade, comrade, esplanade, façade, lemonade, masquerade, serenade. The usual pronunciation in English is (- d), although many of these words, such as accolade, have a variant with the pronunciation (-äd), and for some, such as esplanade and façade, (-äd) may be the most common or only acceptable pronunciation. No one will have trouble pronouncing the words that are commonly used, but with unfamiliar words the pronunciation (-d) is probably safest. | 1 |
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| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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